Gone, lost, over
by Rangersan
Summary: He senses the punch, but doesn't even attempt to dodge it. A gloved fist strikes him in the stomach and he doubles over, coughing up blood. The chains cut into his wrists as he loses his footing, hanging from the frigid iron. Contains: Yogscast Zoey, Yogscast Rythian, Yogscast Duncan, And more.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! This is currently a one shot, but I will continue if you like it. Hoping to tie in Cornerstone. Based on a tumbler prompt.**

He senses the punch, but doesn't even attempt to dodge it. A gloved fist strikes him in the stomach and he doubles over, coughing up blood. The chains cut into his wrists as he loses his footing, hanging from the frigid iron. Rythian looks up wearily at Duncan, the scientist's goggles reflected the torchlight of the gloomy dungeon. It seemed to fill his eyes with fire.

"Had enough?" Duncan snarled down at the weakened mage. Rythian just glared back, the thick gag in his mouth preventing an answer. Another punch, painfully impacting on Rythian's eye. He can already feel it swelling up. Duncan kicks his legs out from under him, then shoves Rythian and lets him swing, dangling from the ceiling.

"Duncan!" A sweet voice calls from the courtyard above, causing Duncan to start guiltily. "Come see what I built!"

"I'll be right back." He promised, a wicked smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "Coming Kim!" The dungeon door opens ahead of the scientist, briefly allowing a small square of light into the room. Then it cuts off.

Rythian sagged in relief, regaining his footing. He winced as multiple bruises and cuts throbbed in an agonizing unison. It seemed like an eternity since he had been captured, but it had only been a week. A week filled with day after day of pure agony. Duncan seemed set on causing as much pain as possible, physical and mental. Every day was something different, and he had learned not to trust anything around him. Duncan experimented with reality altering drugs, causing horrible nightmares. He had stood over Zoey's broken body more times than he could count, always jerking awake to the sound of Duncan's laugh as he screamed her name. There didn't seem to be a purpose to this endless, mindless torture. Exhausted, Rythian's eyes began to slide closed as he fell into a dreamless sleep.

A sharp stinging in his arm woke Rythian up, he looked over just in time to see Duncan removing a syringe from his arm. Rythian's eyes widened and he began to thrash against the chains. He didn't want to go through this again. But it was too late, the hallucigenic had already worked its way to his brain. Rythian could feel reality slipping away, Duncan's smirking face melting like wax. As he clung to his last fragment of conciseness, he heard Duncan.

"This one's gonna be fun."

Rythian jerked awake, frantically searching the room around him. A smooth marble floor, dark stone walls, he was back in Blackrock? That wasn't right. Blackrock was gone, wasn't it? Duncan had nuked it. He stood up dizzily, trying to process his surroundings. He was in the upper floors, the spare bedroom. It was pitch black but for the glow of his eyes. The teal light illuminated the bed and book shelf. Everything seemed off, the plant by the bed was blackened and decaying. The air even smelled wrong, a nauseating mixture of decay and a sharp metallic smell. Rythian froze when he realized what it was, blood. He carefully made his way over to the door, slowly turning the nob. The hallway was equally dark. The stench grew stronger when he neared the master bedroom, his dread rising with every step.

"Zoey?" Rythian whispers as he rounds the corner into the bedroom. Maybe, just maybe it would be different this time. Maybe…

She lay in a pool of her own blood, he couldn't tell where her hair ended and the blood started, they had swirled together into a horrible unison. Her lips were crusted with crimson and the hilt of a sword protruded from her stomach. A glowing sword…

"No." Rythian backed away. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. Lalna was just messing with him. Shakily he stepped closer again, peering into her eyes. Her expression was frozen into permanent shock and betrayal, open eyes glazed over in a look of abject horror. He could see himself reflected in the empty pupils, paler than death. He reached out, shakily closing her eyelids. There was blood on his hands.

"No!" He cried again, collapsing by her side, desperately clutching at her decomposing flesh. "This isn't real, it wasn't me! You're not dead. Zoey, ZOEY!" He was sobbing now, the tears leaving gleaming patches on his blood coated face. He knew this wasn't real, it couldn't be real. She wasn't dead.

"_How do you know?"_ The shadow of doubt pushed its way into his mind, freezing his tears. "_You left her, alone in a forest. You said you'd be back, how long did she wait before she knew you weren't coming back? How long can one dinosaur and a little girl stay alive in a place like that?"_

"I didn't leave her." His voice muffled as he pressed his face into Zoey's side. "Taken, kidnapped. Oh god what if I can't get back!" He began to shake her now, past the point of reason, beyond sanity.

"Wake up! C'mon Zoey you can't just leave me! Zoey, ZOEY!"

And the room was ripped away, the gleeful laugh of a madman drowning out his frantic screams.


	2. Chapter 2

_One week ago._

"Hurry up Rythian!" Zoey whined. She and Teep had rushed far ahead of the more cautious mage.

"You slow down! I don't want to lose you, it's a jungle in here." Rythian replied, jogging to catch up. She smiled when he reached her, grabbing his hand.

"There are soooo many mushrooms! I mean, they aren't talking but they're really big and some are just so adorable!" She squealed, tugging him down to look at a little glowing blue one. "This one can be called Tommy. Say hi to Tommy, Rythian!"

"Hi Tommy." Rythian said jokingly. He stood and brushed the dirt off of his knees. "Come on Zoey. We need to find a way out of here." The red head looked up at him with big, pleading eyes.

"Can't we just stay a minute longer? I wanna talk to Tommy." Zoey begged. Rythian rolled his eyes.

"Fine. I'll just have a look around. Teep," The Dinosaur looked up at his name, "Make sure she doesn't wander off. I'll be right back." Rythian strode off into the small forest to the side of them. He glanced back once at Zoey, now in an animated conversation with the fungi. He rolled his eyes and continued to search for the distinct purple glow of the portal. He hated not having his magic, he felt far too weak and vulnerable. Even his eyes weren't glowing, which was making stumbling around in this god forsaken forest a nightmare. He was so pre-occupied he almost fell into a little pool of glowing water.

"The hell are you?" He muttered to himself, running his fingers through it. He felt a rush of energy, the forest lighting up instantly. He jerked back, startled. Examining the pool again he could make out the faces of little sprites in the water. He was standing next to a mana pool. A ridiculous grin lit up Rythian's features, it wasn't anywhere near as much as he normally had, but beggars couldn't be choosers. He dipped his hand in again, reveling in the pure energy that flowed through his veins. He closed his eyes as he pulled the mana from the pool into his own, empty, supply. He pulled his hand out and opened his eyes, lighting the forest with a teal glow. He grinned again and started to run back to Zoey. He was so single minded in his rush that he missed the wire stretching across the ground. He tripped, falling to the ground painfully, landing on his wrist. Immediately a trickle of mana flowed around the broken bone, using up the entire mana store in one go. He cursed harshly, trying to push himself back up with his good hand. But a heavy booted foot suddenly impacted with his back, knocking the breath out of him. He immediately tried to call out, but the person was faster, a gloved hand clamping over his mouth and muffling his shouts.

"Shhh… Don't hurt yourself now." The voice whispered sweetly. "There'll be time enough for that later." Something sharp stung the back of his neck, then a slow crawl of a deadening feeling along his spine. Rythian struggled against the drug, reaching for any last vestige of magic. He had none. A hand roughly pulled him onto his back. Duncan stood above him, smirking in satisfaction. Rythian tried again to struggle, to do anything, but whatever was in the syringe had rendered him helpless. Duncan grabbed his leg and began to drag him, and Rythian's consciousness faded with every step. His last thought was of Zoey, and how hard he was going to punch the scientist when he woke up.

_Now_

A subtle buzzing in his head reminded Rythian of his thirst and hunger. Duncan hadn't been back down in two days and Rythian was beginning to suspect that this was a new form of torture. Locked away in darkness, starving, completely alone with his thoughts. Or even worse, that Duncan had somehow forgotten about his prisoner in the basement. He had heard them during those two days, running about and crashing into things on their jetpacks. He could hear the two of them talking but could never quite make out the words. Duncan seemed so, _cheerful_, though. It was a mystery how he had kept that girl around so long. Perhaps less of a mystery, Rythian realized, given how good the scientist was at lying. Even to himself.

The sharp noise of the hatch opening pierced his eardrums. Rythian glanced up, too exhausted to even raise his head properly. Duncan stood at the base of the ladder, framed by the blinding sun. But the harsh face Rythian had expected was not present, replaced by a look of utter confusion.

"Rythian?" Duncan gaped. But even as the word left his lips his expression shattered, surprise fading back into a sadistic grin. Even his eyes seemed to darken in colour, clear emerald fading to a swampy green. Rythian's brain raised a murky suggestion that something wasn't right, but exhaustion and dehydration defeated whatever mental capacity he could muster.

"I'm surprised you've managed to stay alive this long." Duncan said hurriedly. The sentence seemed forced, like Lalna was covering for something. Rythian didn't react. He just stared at the scientist and waited for the pain to start again. Duncan walked to the water barrel by the wine racks, this prison doubled as a wine cellar, and drew out a spoonful. Rythian looked at the pure, clean water with longing. His mouth was so dry he could barely swallow. A pathetic whimpering sound escaped his lips, heavily muffled by the gag. He hoped it was so muffled that Duncan wouldn't hear it.

"Thirsty?" He chuckled. Clearly he had heard. "I thought you didn't like water, Rythian." Duncan approached with the ladle and held it tauntingly in front of the desperate mage's face. After a moment he relented, pulling off the gag and holding the ladle to Rythian's lips. He drank greedily, the sweet cold water felt like heaven on his rough throat. Duncan watched in amusement, periodically pulling away again, teasing the desperate mage. As Rythian drank Duncan played with the edge of his mask, trying to pull it off. Duncan had tried to remove the mask before, but to no avail. That, Rythian thought smugly, had frustrated the scientist immensely.

"Ready to start?" Duncan grinned, bouncing slightly. Rythian gave no reply. The scientist's grin faded. "You think I'm enjoying this?"

"Yes." Speaking was a struggle, his throat felt as though he had drunk lava instead of water.

"I don't want to be doing this, really. But it's necessary." He straightened his lab coat. "For science."

"How the hell," Rythian started angrily, but Duncan cut him off.

"I'm wasting time." The scientist snatched the gag and shoved it back into place. Rythian winced at the rough treatment, making a low growling noise. Duncan rolled his eyes. "Someone's being dramatic."

Duncan hauled back a heavy chain attached to some pulleys, slowly lifting Rythian into the air. "I've done some research." He panted. "And formed a fun new hypothesis. Today we're testing oxygen deprivation's effect. Who knows, maybe today we'll finally figure it out!"

_"__It?" _Rythian thought. "_What the hell is 'it'?"_

"And after that we might try some water torture, or maybe branding. Both look effective and I haven't quite decided. Any thoughts? No?" Lalna let out a short manic laugh. "Then let's begin!"

With that he gave the chain a final wrench, hefting Rythian so his toes dangled centimeters from the ground. His diaphragm constricted rapidly because of the way he was hanging, arms above his head. Rythian's breathing was labored and slightly panicked now. He twisted frantically, trying for the thousandth time to pull his hands from the shackles. Duncan held him there for several minutes before lowering the chain, only to wrench it back up again barely a second later. Rythian's vision started to blur and spot, his lungs screaming for air. He almost passed out twice for the half hour that Lalna devoted to yanking on that chain. When he lowered the chain for the last time Rythian's legs couldn't even support him and he slid to the ground. He hovered on the brink of conciseness, Duncan's leering face swimming above him.

"Get up." A sharp kick to the stomach caused Rythian to curl inwards. It was quickly followed by another, aggravating the cuts and bruises on his abdomen. Duncan grabbed a fistful of his hair, yanking him into a sitting position. But the moment he let go Rythian slid back to the ground, consciousness fading like a light. Duncan cursed harshly and grabbed the water barrel, dumping it on the mage. The cold, icy water felt good for a moment, but then the unexpected happened. It started to burn.

Rythian's eyes widened in panic, thrashing against his bonds like a madman. This couldn't be happening, he had severed his connection to that place years ago! The horrible burning against his skin grew and grew, an almost intolerable pain. There was genuine fear in Rythian's eyes for the first time, and Duncan could see it. The scientist stood above the screaming mage with a light of victory in his eyes, giggling like a child at Christmas. There was a sudden and dramatic change in the lighting of the dungeon, blazing purple light spreading to every corner of the room. Rythian squeezed his eyes shut, but there was still light leaking from under his eyelids.

"Yes!" Duncan's voice cracked in excitement and he thrust a fist triumphantly in the air. "Yes yes yes! I did it! I, Duncan Jones, have finally done it." He pulled Rythian out of the puddle of water, shoving him to the side of the room. "You wait here, I'll be back in a day or so. Then the real fun can begin."

Duncan sprinted to the ladder and pulled on his jetpack. Moments later the scientist was gone, leaving a trail of rainbow smoke. Leaving Rythian behind; soaking wet and terrified.


End file.
